Locking Prescription Vials Helps Keep Medicine Safe in Medication-assisted Treatment Programs - Pharmacy Times

In 2020, an estimated 2.7 cardinal Americans aged 12 years oregon older had opioid usage upset (OUD).¹ For these patients, medication-assisted attraction (MAT) programs are a clinically effectual attack for treating OUD.

Patients successful MAT programs are typically fixed an oral medication, similar buprenorphine and naloxone (Suboxone; Indivior PLC), implicit a play that tin scope betwixt a fewer months to galore years. These patients stay nether adjacent supervision of a wellness attraction nonrecreational passim this attraction play to enactment the diligent not lone done the attraction but besides done OUD associated withdrawal symptoms and cravings. For patients successful MAT programs, medicine information is simply a risk, and the imaginable consequences of cause diversion are serious.

As pharmacists, we person a work to amended patients and their families connected the unintended consequences of nonaccomplishment to safeguard and unafraid medicine medications, particularly for those successful our MAT programs. Many patients being treated with medications for OUD (MOUD) unrecorded with susceptible household members, including children and teens; others whitethorn bring their medicine with them to their work. Still others whitethorn unrecorded successful congregate attraction settings with non-family members who are successful betterment themselves—all necessitate information arsenic to the risks of not safeguarding and securing MOUDs successful each environment.

According to the Ohio Department of Health,² 2020 surpassed 2017 arsenic the highest twelvemonth for unintentional cause overdose deaths successful Ohio, with 5017 deaths and an age-adjusted complaint of 45.6 deaths per 100,000 population—a 3% summation implicit 2017 and a 25% summation implicit 2019. Children are particularly susceptible to accidental ingestion, with information from Safe Kids Worldwide showing that 1 kid goes to an exigency country for medicine poisoning each 8 minutes,³ and 3 retired of 4 ER visits for medicine poisoning are owed to kids getting into parents’ oregon grandparents’ medicine. Plus, the household medicine furniture is often a root for teen cause abuse.

However, it has been shown that controlling entree to unsafe medicine medicine is simply a utile involution successful wounded prevention circles. For example, aft the Poison Prevention Packaging Act (PPPA) was signed into instrumentality successful 1970, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)4 reported that child-resistant packaging reduced the oral medicine medicine-related decease complaint by up to 1.4 deaths per cardinal children nether property of 5 years—a 45% simplification successful the complaint of fatalities.

At Lower Lights Christian Health Center successful Columbus, Ohio, we person acceptable up a programme for harmless retention and proscription of medications for our MAT programme utilizing locking medicine vials. Nearly 250 patients person their buprenorphine and naloxone strips dispensed into locking medicine vials, which necessitate a 4-digit codification aligned from apical to bottommost to open. Patients are required to bring the vial backmost each clip and ongoing feedback is gathered from patients, prescribers, and pharmacists. This helps america summation compliance among patients and puts a measurement successful spot that could forestall accidental ingestion, misuse, and pilfering—helping america amended the wide efficacy of the MAT program.

As portion of the program, we inquire patients, prescribers, and providers a bid of questions connected their acquisition with the locking medicine vials to measure their efficacy successful medicine safety. The responses we person received from this programme are showing promising results, with diligent feedback mostly emphasizing that it is simply a large thought and with galore amazed a akin solution hadn’t been identified before. More than 80% percent of patients person reported that their medications are much secure.5 Some patients and parents already had their ain information measures successful spot and recognized the request for harmless storage. One diligent with 5 young children astatine location shared that the locking medicine vial gives reassurance that their “curious” kids are protected from unsafe medications.

Moreover, archetypal information shows that pharmacists didn’t announcement a important interaction to mean workflow and recovered the encoding process manageable. Probation officers and sober surviving lodging managers person reported a simplification successful theft and nonaccomplishment of medication. In fact, 100% of providers surveyed were successful enactment of utilizing a locking medicine vial for controlled substances arsenic a means of harmless storage.⁵

In 2022, the programme expanded from Columbus to agrarian Marysville, successful adjacent Union County owed to its success. Union County is the lone region successful Ohio experimenting with medicine information for MOUD attraction programs.

With this programme and research, we anticipation to amended different pharmacists done diligent feedback and testimonials connected 1 enactment for restricting entree to MOUD that could assistance forestall misuse and diversion.

About the Author

John Ahler, RPh, is the pharmacy manager astatine Lower Lights Christian Health Center, a federally qualified wellness center, successful Columbus, Ohio. He has much than 30 years of acquisition successful the tract of pharmaceuticals and has led operations astatine companies including CVS Health and Medco Health Solutions. John received a Bachelor of Science successful Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences from Ohio Northern University.

Reference

1. Substance Abuse Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. Results from the 2020 National Survey connected Drug Use and Health: Detailed Tables. SAMHSA. Published October 25, 2021. Accessed October 25, 2022. https://www.samhsa.gov/data/data-we-collect/nsduh-national-survey-drug-use-and-health
2. 2020 Ohio Drug Overdose Report. Ohio Department of Health. Accessed October 17, 2022. https://odh.ohio.gov/know-our-programs/violence-injury-prevention-program/media/2020+ohio+drug+overdose+report.
3. Every 8 minutes a kid goes to an exigency country for medicine poisoning. Safe Kids Worldwide. Published March 12, 2014. Accessed October 17, 2022. https://www.safekids.org/press-release/every-8-minutes-child-goes-emergency-room-medicine-poisoning
4. US Consumer Product Safety Commission. 2005. Accessed October 17, 2022. https://www.cpsc.gov/safety-education/safety-guides/containers-and-packaging/poison-prevention-packaging-guide-healthcare.
5. Ahler J. Increasing Compliance & Medication Safety by Using Locking Prescription Vials successful a Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) Program. Lower Lights Christian Health Center. Accessed November 8, 2022. https://llchc.org/health-services/addiction-treatment/